| 3 MOST VOLUBLE MINISTERS |
| They talk, therefore they are MANI SHANKAR AIYAR It takes the minister of petroleum and natural gas (and panchayati raj) a thousand words just to clear his throat. At a recent (unofficial) dinner, he spoke so long and furiously on the rights of Palestinians that guests looked longingly at their dinner and the Israeli ambassador left in protest! Shares some traits with President A P J Abdul Kalam in that respect. |
| KAMAL NATH Because he's stopped smoking, the minister of commerce and industry must have something to divert him, so he talks instead. He doesn't talk to put you at ease but because he thinks he always has something to say. |
| RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH The minister of rural development is the original yakety-yak in the government and though he doesn't let out too many secrets, he is fond of beginning at the beginning "" which can prove terribly exhausting! |
| 4 BIGGEST EMBARRASSMENTS |
| ...a constant source of amusement LALU PRASAD Chargesheeted and with a jail stint to show for it, he brought other chargesheeted colleagues with him, insisting that being ministers was their birthright. Was seen on camera distributing money during the Bihar elections, which he lost for the UPA. As railway minister, his two big ideas were replacing plastic glasses with kulhars, and introducing a special service for vegetables from Bihar (discontinued a month later because the vegetables rotted on account of the late running of trains). Need we say more? |
| SHIBU SOREN Was chargesheeted but made it clear he expected to be made minister, but would vacate that post and become chief minister if the UPA won the election. It didn't, but Soren made himself CM anyway, and had to be dragged away kicking and screaming when he couldn't prove his majority. |
| RENUKA CHOWDHURY Given the run of the glamorous tourism ministry, instead of concentrating on policies, the photogenic minister has spent her time and energy chasing duty-free liquor contracts and setting up night bazaars for the local citizenry. Skewed priorities? We'd say: an absence of priorities. |
| ARJUN SINGH Must he dose in public? |
| 3 BIGGEST NON-PERFORMING ASSETS |
| In a cabinet of low performers, at the bottom of the heap! P M SAYEED The power minister tried to work out a new national electricity policy, but this was shot down by the Left, which wanted cross-subsidies to continue "" so that was the end of that. The draft tariff policy has been circulated, but it has taken a year. And the Left is not on board yet. All ministers are guided by their secretaries, but Sayeed more so than others. |
| A RAJA Minister for environment and forests who is unable to explain why the tigers have gone missing. |
| T R BAALU The pet line of the minister for road transport and highways: "We're faster makers of roads than the last government." If there is little evidence of this, it's because Baalu was also in the last government. Despite the incomplete first two phases, anouncements of four more phases have been made. |
| 2 MOST FREQUENT CABINET ABSENTEES |
| Keeping the Opposition company? K CHANDRASHEKHAR RAO He confesses quite frankly that he sees no compelling reason to attend cabinet meetings because he's kept out of decision-making anyway. On the crucial EPF rates issue, all he had to do was endorse a decision already taken by the finance minister. Call his office and you will be told, "Mantriji kothi par hain. (The minister is at his residence.)" |
| JAIPAL REDDY As information minister, apparently doesn't have much to do. Didn't one daily start publishing a foreign newspaper under the minister's nose in the full knowledge that the minister would be able to do little about it? Happy to let government function without having too much to do with it. |
| 5 WHY ARE THESE HERE? |
| Or, do they know where their offices are? JAGDISH TYTLER He's the first minister for non-resident Indians but there is no evidence that this has made any difference to anyone. As a result, Tytler is using all his resources to fight Sheila Dixit in Delhi. He may lose the ministry of NRIs but he knows he has to keep his constituency alive. |
| MAHAVIR PRASAD A cabinet minister in charge of small-scale, agro and rural industries, Prasad is supposed to be putting in place mechanisms that will utilise the slew of measures in the Budget for SMEs. But all he's done so far is introduce a bill on SMEs which was drafted by the NDA. |
| SANTOSH MOHAN DEB The ministry of heavy industry and public enterprises is ripe for abolition, so why there should be a minister for it is inexplicable. Initially, he was minister of state along with Taslimuddin, and that became a bitter pill to swallow. Then he got independent charge. All he's done since is create the conditions for setting up an auto-testing facility in Silchar. |
| S S PALANIMANIKKAM No one knows whether the minister of state for finance faces the same problem that all ministers of state have "" no work "" or whether Palanimanikkam actually does a lot of work in secret. |
| PANABAKA LAKSHMI The minister of state for health sometimes has work, but most of the time he has no work. And the absence of her interventions in health policy have frankly not really been felt anywhere "" which is probably why no one notices whether she has a portfolio or not. |
| 3 BIGGEST ASSETS |
| Though some would argue they're just as big liabilities CHIDAMBARAM, P He's brusque, he's blunt, but he's reinvented himself in tune with the UPA government's priorities. (Witness fringe benefits tax and cash withdrawal tax.) A handpicked choice of the PM, and a pro at coalition budget making, he's emerged as a key pointsman in the cabinet. (So, despite those irritating taxes, he isn't likely to be relinquishing his seat any time soon!) |
| MUKHERJEE, P De facto and de jure number two in the government, Pranab-da is the first defence minister in years to spend all the money the finance ministry gave him. Experienced in West Bengal politics, he understands the compulsions of the Left "" but can't make up his mind about George Fernandes! |
| PATEL, P Though he tends to forget he is minister for civil aviation and not a single airline, Patel has worked steadily and has results to show for it. Air India has approved the purchase of aircraft, airport privatisation is on fast track, airlines have been allowed to fly abroad and, mercifully, Patel is not obsessed with recruitment and toilette issues, unlike some predecessors. |
| 3 BEST DRESSED MINISTERS |
| Clothes do maketh the man! SHIVRAJ PATIL Spare, austere, and the living example of the Wodehousian What the Well-Dressed Man is Wearing. Never a hair out of place, never a crease awry. One minister who wears his clothes with elegance and grace "" now if only he'd employ the same deft touch with the home ministry. |
| KAPIL SIBAL The role model is the American Public Prosecutor. Shirts are rumpled just so, the boyish thatch of hair is charmingly disarranged, and seersucker type suits convey a dashing transatlantic look. |
| K NATWAR SINGH A typical sentence would begin "We Nehruvians...", so it's hardly surprising that the foreign minister should dress like Nehru. A red kerchief replaces the red rose but the middle button of the bandgala is always open. |
| 3 MOST OVERRATED MINISTERS |
| In a hurry but getting nowhere fast DAYANIDHI NARAN His family and friends got a mail from the ministry extolling the 96 achievements in telecom, most of them rulings of the TRAI, or the result of competition. Does little, but is happy to take credit for things that happen in normal course: for instance, taking credit because the Tamil Nadu government got the Nokia plant to Chennai. Works on the simple assumption that if you ask no questions, you'll be told no lies. |
| MANI SHANKAR AIYAR A Pakistani editor described him thus: "Oozing charm from every pore, he oiled his way along the floor." Pipelines have been rigged all over the world map. But not one barrel of oil seems to be on the horizon. Aiyar seems to favour the oil route to the ministry of external affairs. |
| SHARAD PAWAR Acknowledged as the minister who knows everything about agriculture, in his time Pawar brought agricultural innovations to Maharashtra. But is the the ministry of agriculture too gargantuan for him to handle? |
| 3 PERSONS WHO REALLY RUN THE GOVERNMENT |
| They may not be in the public eye, but really count M K NARAYANAN The National Security Advisor (NSA) is involved in everything, whether it is Naxalites or the constitutional crisis in Jharkhand. The reasons are clear "" everything has a national security implication! Clearly eclipses the principal secretary to the PM who is quiet and restrained, and the cabinet secretary who appears to be totally overwhelmed by his job. |
| PULOK CHATTERJEE The link to 10 Janpath, he handles all the bureaucratic appointments, transfers and postings. |
| ARUN BHATNAGAR The man who runs the National Advisory Council, he's the one person whom no one can say "no" to. |
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